Sodom and the Supreme Court

This recent decision denigrating decency reminds me of the phrase in the Bible where evil is seen as good and good as evil. Of course, we have already dealt with the issue of Sodomy in the distortion of the marriage definition which was based on one woman and one man and the practitioners of that activity are well pleased with the way things are going. This caused me to think of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha and God’s reasons. I think we are all acquainted with the story as told in the Bible but there is more detail found in the Book of Jasher. It is mentioned in the books of Joshua and Samuel and although it does not have canonical status, it seems to be an accepted source of information to the ancient writers.

Was Sodom guilty of more sins than recounted in the Bible? Yes! Reading in Jasher, Sodom seems to be a confederation of four cities; namely, Sodom, Gomorrha, Admah and Zeboyim. These four cities were governed by four judges. First, they discouraged strangers from coming to their cities by putting them on a bed. If the bed was too large, they stretched the person at both ends while he cried out, and if the bed be too small, they compressed the sides until the stranger cried out, even unto death.

Another strategy was to give a stranger silver and gold but proclaim throughout the city that he was to receive no bread. If the man stayed and starved to death, they would reclaim their silver and gold and fight over his garments. Lot had a daughter named Paltith (which the Bible totally ignores) and she was caught giving bread to one such person and was taken before the judges of Sodom and Gomorrha who levied a sentence of death. A fire was kindled in the street and therein, she was burned to ashes. A similar fate awaited a woman in the city of Admah. Only, her fate was a little different. She was coated with honey from head to foot and placed before a bee hive. She sustained many stings and was swollen from head to foot but no one paid her any attention. And here I quote from Chapter 19: 43-45, “And her cries ascended to heaven and the Lord was provoked by this and of all the works of the cities of Sodom, for they had abundance of food and tranquility amongst them and still would not sustain the poor and needy, and in those days their sins became great before the Lord. And the Lord sent for two of the angels that had come to Abraham’s house, to destroy Sodom and its cities.” But I get ahead of myself; there are other sins.

Was Sodom guilty of more sins than recounted in the Bible?

Jasher 18: 12-15 details one of these sins, “And they had in their land a very extensive valley, about half a day’s walk, and in it there were fountains of water and a great deal of herbage around the water. And all the people of Sodom and Gomorrha went there four times in the year, with their wives and children and everything belonging to them, and they rejoiced there with timbrels and dances. And in the time of rejoicing, they would all rise and lay hold of their neighbours’ wives, and some, the virgin daughters of their neighbours, and they enjoyed them, and each man saw his wife and daughter in the hands of his neighbour and did not say a word. And they did so from morning till night, and they afterwards returned home each man to his house and each woman to her tent; so they always did four times a year.

WIFE SWAPPING!!! AND THEIR VIRGIN DAUGHTERS!!!

It was also their custom to rob merchants who come with goods to sell and expelled them from the city. There is one more interesting little story that demonstrates that evil is seen as good. Sarah sent Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, to Sodom to inquire after the health of Lot. When he saw a Sodomite stripping a poor man of his clothes, Eliezer interferred and the Sodomite hit him on the forehead with a stone drawing blood. Then he wanted Eliezer to pay him for removing the bad blood from his forehead. Eliezer refused and was taken to court. When the judge proclaimed Eliezer guilty in violation of their laws, Eliezer hit the judge with a stone bringing blood from his forehead saying, ” if this then is the custom in your land, give thou unto this man what I should have given him, for this has been thy decision, thou didst decree it.”

So, there it is! Sexual licence, robbery of merchants, lack of support for the poor and needy and unjust laws. In my opinion, that describes a lot of the developing environment in our cities.

Abraham bargained with God, that should he find ten righteous souls in the cities they would be spared. Who will bargain for us and what will the saving number of righteous souls be? Also, those righteous souls, (Lot’s family) were warned and the angels took them by the hand and led them out of the city. (I find it an interesting aside that, although Lot was a righteous man, he did not leave the evil city, even after losing a daughter to their unjust laws!!! I speculate that he could not bring himself to leave behind all for which he had worked through the years.) Who will take us by the hand and will we leave behind that for which we worked?

Well, it is our hope that such decisions will not be required of us. Jesus gave us the parable of the wheat and the tares regarding the time of his return. His Angels will gather first the tares to be burned and then the wheat into His barn. We know from the example of Sodom, that there is a price to pay for presumptuous sins, and in terms of God’s law, the Supreme Court of Canada is leading us from living under law, to lawlessness!!. God have mercy on us!!